Mismanaged Trade

TEXTILES are America’s oldest infant industry. In 1791, Alexander Hamilton cited the clothing industry as deserving a few years of government protection to get on its feet. In 1816, the cotton textile lobby helped engineer the first highly protective U.S. tariff law, with an effective tariff of 83 per cent on coarse cottons. The wool lobby was the driving force behind tariff hikes in 1824 and 1828. The 1828 tariff, which raised some wool tariffs to 150 per cent, became known as the “tariff of abominations”; it helped split the nation and plant the seeds of the Civil War. In 1936, the U.S. imposed a quota on Japanese cotton-textile imports, helping to poison U.S.—Japanese relations before World War II.

In 1957, the U.S. imposed new textile export quotas on Japan. In 1961, U.S. negotiators engineered the international Short-Term Agreement to provide temporary protection from cotton-textile imports of six nations. The Short-Term Agreement was followed in 1962 by the Long-Term Agreement, which curbed even more imports. In 1971, President Nixon threatened to penalize Japan under the World War I “Trading with the Enemy Act” if Japan did not agree to further curbs on its textile exports.

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James Bovard

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TEXTILES are America’s oldest infant industry. In 1791, Alexander Hamilton cited the clothing industry as deserving a few years of government protection to get on its feet. In 1816, the cotton textile lobby helped engineer the first highly protective U.S. tariff law, with an effective tariff of 83 per cent on coarse cottons. The wool lobby was the driving force behind tariff hikes in 1824 and 1828. The 1828 tariff, which raised some wool tariffs to 150 per cent, became known as the “tariff of abominations”; it helped split the nation and plant the seeds of the Civil War. In 1936, the U.S. imposed a quota on Japanese cotton-textile imports, helping to poison U.S.—Japanese relations before World War II.

In 1957, the U.S. imposed new textile export quotas on Japan. In 1961, U.S. negotiators engineered the international Short-Term Agreement to provide temporary protection from cotton-textile imports of six nations. The Short-Term Agreement was followed in 1962 by the Long-Term Agreement, which curbed even more imports. In 1971, President Nixon threatened to penalize Japan under the World War I “Trading with the Enemy Act” if Japan did not agree to further curbs on its textile exports.